All the picks are nice and all but we need to hit on them. If melnyk is cutting team salary costs can we at least invest in junior scouts ?
This is one of the best drafting teams in the NHL. It's mysterious how they've managed to be bad at almost every other aspect of team management while consistently achieving excellent drafts, but somehow they are.
Just from last year we have JBD (26), Tychonick (48) and Crookshank (126) who have all seen their stock rise.
From 2017, Formenton (47) and Batherson (121) are both deemed legit prospects with Batherson considered one of the best prospects in the NHL.
Lajoie (133) from the 2016 draft is already on the roster full-time and will probably improve with a summer of strength training. And Brown (11) appears to finally be getting his stuff together to become an impact center.
Chabot (18) is already a superstar in the making and without question one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. White (21) is on his way to becoming at the least a very good 2-way middle six center. Wolanin (107) and Jaros (139) appear to be working their way into full-time roles on an NHL roster while Chlapik (48) is on the verge of making the NHL on a more full-time basis.
Maybe not all of these players pan out. Maybe a few of them are even better than we expected. But I find no reason to be nervous about the Senators drafting abilities when you look at the players who are coming up that they've drafted just since 2015. I count 12 guys who are capable of playing some type of role for the Senators either currently or in the near future.